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The English nation has spent three days imagining what it might have been like to play a World Cup final, and then over 90 minutes in this Saturday in Fifa’s glorified friendly for third place, wondering if that lost final could have been a chastening experience for a young team.

After 56 days, two friendlies, seven World Cup games, and 12 goals Southgate and his squad will board their plane for Birmingham on Sunday lunchtime having suffered two straight defeats that gave them a fair idea of where they stand in world football. Against Belgium, they were permitted more of the ball before being punished by the the irresistible counter-attacking of Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne who never had to hit top gear.

After the euphoria of the national team’s first World Cup semi-final in 28 years the last two games have been a bit more like the evening out of expectations. Certainly, this not a classic, with no need for the big screen in Hyde Park. There were five changes to the team that lost the semi-final to Croatia, and Southgate was later open about the fact that some of his players were not in a physical condition to play.

He said that his players had not been able to train in the two days previous that had followed the defeat to Croatia and it showed in their start, behind within four minutes to a goal that went from Thibaut Courtois’ hands to the back of the England net in a matter of seconds. It meant that Belgium could control the game after that and even if they did not have the majority of the possession they never really looked like losing the edge over England.

It was a quiet afternoon for Harry Kane although Romelu Lukaku got no closer to the Englishman’s six goals at the head of the golden boot race, and the Manchester United man botched a couple of chances. He was twice played in by De Bruyne, and twice his good movement was let down by a sloppy touch. When he was substituted after the hour he disappeared straight down the tunnel.

England had their own problems too, with Danny Rose in the side in place of Ashley Young and beaten to the ball by Thomas Meunier for the first goal in four minutes. He came off at half-time and so too did Raheem Sterling. Hazard plundered the second goal when England were stretched on the counter-attack, a certain inevitability that he would finish as he eased away from Phil Jones as he did in the FA Cup final a couple of months earlier.

Thomas Meunier opened the scoringCredit:
Getty images

In the aftermath the Belgian players were obliged to gather around the signage proclaiming their third-place victory, a little self-consciously it should be said because this was a team that had greater aspirations for a bronze. Had they not beaten England in Kaliningrad in the final group game then perhaps it would have been Belgium contending the final against France on Sunday in Moscow. This World Cup performance under Roberto Martinez has by no means embarrassed the country but it could have been better.

They were certainly dangerous in those early stages when Southgate’s team had barely put any pressure on the ball and were passed through and around much too easily. The first goal went from Courtois to Nacer Chadli, who found Lukaku in the centre and then set off down the left wing. Meunier’s run was on the blind-side of Rose and the Belgian just needed to get something on Chadli’s cross to score.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek was in this Southgate team in place of Dele Alli who later came on, and there were occasional moments from the Chelsea player, but never quite enough to change perceptions that he drifts in and out. There was a run to the byline past Chadli, who would later go off injured, and Jan Vertonghen. Sterling teed up Kane on the edge of the area and the shot did not have the accuracy we have grown accustomed to from him this season.

Kane had a quiet afternoon, but should end up winning the golden bootCredit:
ap

At the other end, Lukaku looked unhappy to be replaced soon after his second heavy touch from a De Bruyne through ball, although the striker was back for the medal presentation. Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard came on and England looked better for it. They were always vulnerable to the counter-attack with De Bruyne leading the charge. Eric Dier chipped Courtois when a slip in the defensive line of Belgium let him in but Toby Alderweireld got it off the line.

They never got quite as close again. There were a couple of headers but frankly it was Belgium’s counter-attacking that was most extraordinary, particularly one move between De Bruyne and Dries Mertens, Lukaku’s replacement, that created another chance for Meunier. He caught it sweetly and Pickford saved one-handed, one of his best of the tournament.

Eventually Belgium broke through, when De Bruyne found the left channel for Hazard and a leg trailed in that direction from Jones - turning as he did - could not cut out the ball. Hazard was off, beating Pickford with a deceptive shot inside the near post. It was just one of a few moments when the overwhelming quality of that pair in particular reminded England of just how far there is to go - a lot further than it seemed just a few days earlier when Russia 2018 had opened up and there was still an improbable shot at glory.

Jail threat hangs over Luka Modric's fairy tale World Cup final

By Ben Rumsby

It could have been the happy ending to one of sport’s great fairy tales: a child refugee scarred by the horrors of war beats incredible odds to become one of the world’s best footballers before leading his tiny nation to World Cup glory in his final major tournament. If only it was that simple for Luka Modric as he tries to write another extraordinary chapter to his life story with victory against France on Sunday.

For, even emerging triumphant from a World Cup which has taken so-called “sports-washing” (the use of sport to distract from wrongdoing) to a new level would not cleanse the reputation of Croatia’s captain, who arrived in Russia with his standing among his own people at an all-time low.

The perjury charges which have cemented the Real Madrid midfielder’s status as a hate figure among many of his country’s supporters have cast a major shadow over their march to their first final.

England's bright young stars need game time

To expand on the point I made just now with Glenn, Loftus-Cheek is 22 and a half (older than Dele Alli). RLC has only started 27 league games in his career. Dele has started 161 - that’s 6 x more. @England players need to play. Difficult decisions when offered £££ as young lads.

No more World Cup for England

Player ratings

Gareth Southgate post-match interview

Credit:
GETTY IMAGES

"We had to play flat out and we've had a day less to recover, it was a game too far for us. They are a top team, they'll be thinking they should have gone further than they did. They have players of the highest quality.

"We are competitive in every game, to finish in the top four is probably above where we are currently. Huge credit to the players.

"I think two years on the number of caps the Belgian players have, they're at their peak. We're nowhere near our peak.

"We've tried to maximise the players we have and their profiles. It's not club football, we can't go and buy players. I can't ask for more from them."

Roberto Martinez

"These players deserve that, the talent takes you somewhere. What we've seen in this World Cup is the players didn't want to rely on talent anymore, they wanted to be a team who achieves results. They wanted to make the country proud.

"We started sharp from the beginning, a little concentrate can affect you. England are the best team on set piece on dead ball and you have to pay attention. To keep a clean sheet is down to concentration, desire and talent - the amount of goals we scored speaks for itself. 10 different scorers I think is the best in World Cup history."

England players at the final whistle

Opta stats

Belgium have registered their best finish at a World Cup tournament, finishing third and beating their previous best finish of fourth in 1986.

England have lost three of their last five matches (W1 D1) – their previous three defeats came over a period of 28 matches.

The Three Lions lost back to back matches for the first time since June 2014, when they were beaten by Italy and Uruguay at the 2014 World Cup.

This was England’s 100th match at a major tournament (69 at the World Cup, 31 at the European Championships). They have won 39, drawn 32 and lost 29 of those matches.

Since 1966, no player has been involved in more World Cup goals for Belgium than Eden Hazard (7, 3 goals and 4 assists), level with Jan Ceulemans (4 goals, 3 assists).

England lost three matches at a major tournament for only the second time, also losing three times at Euro 1988.

Thomas Meunier was the 10th different player to score for Belgium at the 2018 World Cup – the joint-most scorers by a team at a World Cup tournament (also 10 for France in 1982 and Italy in 2006).

Harry Kane ended the 2018 World Cup with six goals from six shots on target – however, he had just one shot on target in his final four World Cup matches, doing so from the penalty spot against Colombia.

This was only the third time that England have lost two matches in a calendar year against the same opponent, also losing twice against Wales in 1936 and twice against Italy in 1973.

England had as many shots on target in this match as they managed in their previous three knockout matches combined (6).

Post-match stats

ITV pundits have said

These aren't exact quotes (typing quickly is hard sometimes) but they're close enough:

Roy Keane

"We saw the gap in quality between Belgium and England, especially in midfield. It's not just England lacking these players, it's top clubs, other countries, that's why it's hard to win these games."

Lee Dixon

"It's not just the creative side, it takes relief off your defence. We're trying to create and force and our energy gets into certain positions but you can almost hear the defence going oh god not again as they're left exposed."

Harry Kane post-match

"We played really well you know, had them on the ropes for the first half hour. We put the pressure on and the second goal killed us. The lads couldn't give anymore. We didn't play well first of all and conceded early, we gave everything.

"120 minutes a couple of days ago, it's been tough. It shows, we can still learn and get better and hold our heads up high.

"We've closed the gap for sure but there's still room for improvement. We're not the finished article yet. This group of lads will want to get better.

"We don't want to wait another 20 odd years for another semi-final, this is the level we have to stay at.

"It shows we had a very good group stage, scored a lot of goals, I'm disappointed I couldn't get a goal in the last few games."

Would you have taken the Golden Boot and a semi-final place if you were told you could have it before the World Cup?

"No, to be honest. We came to win. It's now about resting up and getting ready for next season."

90 mins - Belgium 2 England 0

I'm a firm believer that the decent teams England have played against have figured out their tactical system and easily beaten it. Southgate has been naive in sticking with it and needs variation - perhaps this is all part of a bigger plan to let the players learn it so they can switch between systems in future games. But no team has ever scored against a low block by passing the ball around their centre-backs near the centre-circle.

88 mins - Belgium 2 England 0

England are dreadful. Lethargic, uninspired and so slow... Kompany has sprinted the length of the pitch to join in a counter-attack, Hazard's cross is deflected and rather than going on the counter to take advantage of the defender being out of position, England pass slowly, patiently, like medicated patients wandering through the halls of football hospital. Just end it now, ref.

86 mins - Belgium 2 England 0

Eric Dier needs to be told he is not Pirlo. He overruns the ball in the final third, Dembele robs him easily and the counter-attack is on. De Bruyne has miles of space as Hazard runs through the middle but the pass is poor and Stones has time to block the shot. That should have been a deserved a third.

GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL!

Belgium punish England on the counter-attack with more beautiful football. The pass into Hazard from De Bruyne is fantastic, Jones is all over the place and plays him onside, Hazard finishes near post. Great goal.

81 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

Belgium counter-attack after more fantastic attacking play and some great skill in the Belgium box! One-touch football takes them all the way to the England box and Meunier absolutely batters his shot on goal. Pickford is equal to it though and saves!

Rashford brings the ball down with an amazing first touch but again has nobody to pass to. Kane looks absolutely goosed and has been nowhere near the game today.

79 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

Loftus-Cheek has probably been England's best player, or at least their most attack-minded. He's unlucky not to get ahead of Vertonghen and onto a one-two in the box. Belgium are struggling a little here and have sent Dembele on in place of Tielemans.

77 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

England's shape and lack of movement lets them down again as Dier is caught hopelessly surrounded by three shirts, and Loftus-Cheek goes down - Belgium break, Mertens gets to the box, cuts inside and shoots wide when really he should do better.

75 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

This is so much better from England now. Lingard fires a cross on the volley into the area and Kane's header is just wide. Another England free-kick, Trippier crosses, Maguire heads at the back post but knocks it wide.

71 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

It's great play by England - finally - as Lingard returns a one-touch pass to keep the one-two going, Dier goes past Kompany and dinks the shot over Courtois. It's going in until Dier's Spurs teammate clears off the line.

69 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

Trippier has the ball wide right and is pointing to the space he wants to pass the ball into. Still pointing. STILL POINTING. WHY IS NOBODY MOVING AHARHGRAHGRHGRAHGRAHGRARHGA

Loftus-Cheek whips a cross into the area but Kane isn't able to get onto it. Rashford has taken a knock and takes a couple of minutes just to recover. It's meant to be stupidly hot in the stadium, perhaps I should be a little less harsh on England.

Dier tries a shot from 25 yards which fizzes along the ground and Courtois saves easily.

65 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

Stones is playing like Beckenbauer now, bringing the ball out from defence and into the final third. England are SO SLOW IN POSSESSION IN THE FINAL THIRD. It's infuriating. How do they expect to score here? Belgium aren't even having to try to stop the space.

63 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

What a touch. Wow. Hazard runs in behind, the ball comes over the top and he controls superbly, taking the ball in his stride. He lays it into Meunier, Delph slides in to deny a goal. Corner for Belgium. Taken short, another corner.

59 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

England are driving me mental here. It's so uninspiring. Delph wins the ball with a great interception, fires it forward and Kane passes back. Rashford runs... nobody else does... the move turns into midfield possession. It's so pointless. This kind of chance to attack is what Southgate's system is built around but instead they're just keeping the ball and doing nothing with it in their own half. There's no point to keeping the ball in your own half for an entire game - for spells, yes, but they're a goal down.

51 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

49 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

Stones has started taking the ball out from deep and joining in the midfield, Dier drops to replace him at the back. England have started better here... but Jones runs up the right wing and crosses straight into the goalkeeper.

Shots on goal

HALF TIME: Belgium 1 England 0

Belgium clearly the better team here, England need to adapt this system. It definitely works but you can't just leave it as it is - there are clear weaknesses and Belgium are taking advantage of them. They have been since kick-off.

45 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

Dier has been a passenger here. England do not need three centre-backs - one of them has to step up into midfield to close down the Belgium attacking midfielders. The defence sit back, create space for Belgium, De Bruyne is running the show. There's heaps of space in the final third for Belgium.

43 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

42 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

This shape that Belgium keep dropping into means England do not have any passing options. They're entirely static off the ball and without that movement, nobody is able to offer an easy ball and so it's moved back or sideways then Belgium win a tackle or intercept.

40 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

Belgium counter-attack at speed again! Meunier has De Bruyne ahead of him, De Bruyne chops inside, looks up and crosses to the back post. It's a decent delivery but Trippier gets back to head behind.

Maguire heads the corner away at the near post, Sterling tries to lead a counter-attack. Loftus-Cheek doesn't have any options inside the pitch, has to turn back and go wide... and Belgium are back in their defensive shape. Really poor.

38 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

36 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

The corner comes in, Tielemans scuffs his volley from the D but it lands with Alderweireld! He hits on the volley and blasts a shot with power just over the bar.

England counter, Belgium drop into a really deep defensive shape and leave no room for a forward pass... then win the ball and go up the other end! De Bruyne sprints... Chadli crosses... it's a goal kick.

34 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

Great play by Belgium. England's midfield shape is giving them so much room to play into but the passing has been excellent. Lukaku makes a run, De Bruyne waits and uses Lukaku as a decoy, finding Hazard behind him. Hazard's shot is blocked, it's a corner.

30 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

Belgium work the ball around England's half, Tielemans has a shot from 25 yards but an England player throws himself heroically at it to block. Belgium are just taking their time to probe the defence here.

28 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

Rose has made another mistake and allowed Meunier in to steal the ball and cross into the box. It's too high for Lukaku and Trippier's first touch to control inside the box is brilliant. England survive.

25 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

KANE! Just wide. If he'd finished that chance, after a 20million pass move from England, who worked their way out of trouble with one-touch passing to get all the way to the Belgium box, there is no way it wouldn't have won goal of the tournament. Kane snatched at his shot and should have at least hit the target.

23 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

Sterling drops deeper into midfield when Belgium are in England's half to make it a clear 5-3-2.

Belgium passing around the England half with some wonderful two-touch football until Stones intercepts and England counter. Rose comes forward, Kane shifts inside, Belgium drop deeper. This is much more composed by Southgate's side.

21 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

19 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

Brilliant by De Bruyne. England need to change their shape here. De Bruyne has space and time to thread a fantastic through-ball between the legs of Dier and into Lukaku's path. The striker's touch lets him down otherwise that was goal number two.

You can see how Loftus-Cheek is making it a forward three. I'm not sure that's actually meant to be happening... but he is their most dangerous player at the moment.

10 mins - Belgium 1 England 0

Another dangerous attack from Belgium! Lukaku carries the ball at pace, De Bruyne runs across him to win space for Hazard on the left but Lukaku passes right to De Bruyne. His attempted back-heel is poor and gives possession away.

GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLL!!!

Dreadful from England. They lose their shape in the middle of the pitch, Chadli has space on the left, Rose doesn't track Meunier's run and the Belgium right wing-back scores a tap in through the goalkeeper's legs. Great move by Belgium but England really helped them there.

3 mins - Belgium 0 England 0

2 mins - Belgium 0 England 0

Sterling does well to shield the ball on the left, rides a challenge from De Bruyne and England keep the ball for a bit. As you might expect, they're already straight on their game today - no hint of nerves from anyone.

KICK OFF

National anthems

Belgium's players half-heartedly mumble/talk their way through the national anthem. Only Tielemans actually seems to care, looking at the sky. Everyone else stares forward. Meh.

And now the national anthem of England:

They instead play God Save The Queen and it's more talk-level singing. Gareth Southgate is such a legend - he's in a proper singing voice, going that little bit higher to put some passion and feeling into it. You can't talk songs. I'm not sure why this has annoyed me so much.

If they even did it like Bob Dylan or something. "GOD save the QUEEEEEN" that would be fine.

Thierry Henry

Gareth Southgate's pre-match words

"We go home having shown improvement, having equalled every other team who has left our shores.

"Every player was up for playing, we had to make a decision on some who we didn't it was right to start, we had to re-energise the team but they're ready for today.

"It would be lovely for the players and staff knowing they've achieved something special. People will look at the roots to this stage but I don't think anyone thought we'd be preparing for seven matches."

Roy Keane

Not as explosive as I'd hoped.

"They (the media) can get a bit carried away. I don't think it was just English media, myself included thought England could win the game. I'd dismiss them remarks as well. He got interviewed pretty quickly after the game, he might regret what he said."

Lee Dixon joins in

Gary Neville on Luka Modric's comments

"I don't think for one minute he was thinking that. No player thinks like that during the match, it's nothing to do with the English media. He's played for Real Madrid for the last few years, imagine what he has to deal with there."

Eric Dier is the holding player today

Last night England needed a defensive midfielder who could add calm and clarity in possession instead of playing hopeful long balls. Jordan Henderson usually went for the latter approach. pic.twitter.com/s0JirNIIqg

Henderson was one of England's best players in this tournament but he was AWFUL against Croatia in that semi-final. The midfield is far more cautious today and should resemble a midfield - Delph will fill the gaps between attack and Dier and Loftus-Cheek can really make things happen. De Bruyne is in a deep midfield position for Belgium today where he has been largely ineffectual.

Starting lineups

Plenty of changes for England then. Phil Jones starts in place of Kyle Walker, Eric Dier is in for Jordan Henderson, Delph and Loftus-Cheek replace Alli and Lingard... but otherwise it's the same. Makes sense to me.

Belgium have gone full strength, with a little addition of Tielemans - who is their top assist maker of the tournament!

The importance of set pieces

Belgium create far more from open play than England. Hazard and De Bruyne are phenomenal from central positions, creating chances out of nothing, but Martinez's tactics haven't really capitalised on this. Instead he's relied a lot on crosses from wide areas, particularly by Thomas Meunier on the right. Martinez has been widely praised for his tactics during this World Cup but I'm not buying it. The team lacked fluidity, they were vulnerable in key areas, ran out of ideas and the best player - De Bruyne - was only allowed to play in his best attacking position in one game. What a surprise that he ended up taking Brazil apart on his own when that happened.

Yet in that game, it took a Brazil goal and 20 minutes of sustained pressure before Martinez adapted his team to deal with the clear problems his side was facing.

England can win today but need to figure out a way to score that isn't just from a corner.

Here are some lovely photos to look through

How did it come to this?

After that semi-final defeat, I went through the entire game and noted all the tactical aspects that helped determine the result. Then I wrote them down and made some graphics and put them in this article:

Excited?

Yeh exactly. But hey, a third placed play-off is nothing to be dismissive about! For Belgium this is probably a missed opportunity, an unwanted reminder that they weren't good enough as a team to reach the final their talented players were perfectly capable of being in.

For England... I mean third place is pretty good. Or fourth for that matter. Considering that before the tournament people weren't even really that bothered about England being in the World Cup, let alone thinking they might actually win it, to play in this match is pretty special. A great achievement for an average bunch of lads.

Will Gareth Southgate give the squad players who didn't get any minutes a chance to perform today? Does he go with sentiment and let Danny Welbeck have a start, Nick Pope or Jack Butland in goal... or does he set the standard and make it clear that you have to earn your place in the England starting XI?

We'll find that out later on. What is pretty cool is that this match is about as close to a Premier League all-star XI game as we'll probably ever get. There will probably only be about three or four players on the pitch who don't play in England - astonishing when you think about it.

Who wants it more? Does it matter? Ehhhhhhh I'm not sure. But it'll be fun and both teams definitely want to win it. Plus - the Golden Boot winner could be decided today.

Kane has scored three penalties which means that if he doesn't hit the back of the net today and Lukaku manages to score two normal goals, Lukaku will win the hallowed metal boot as a prize. Penalties count for less, you see.

Interesting that only two players in World Cup history have had a similar penalties to goals ratio as Kane. Eusebio and Stoichkov.

Team news should be with us soon but until then, stay with us for all the build-up, news and updates from England's third placed play-off with Robert Martinez's Belgium.